Exports see Longhorn’s profit rise by 78pc

Book publisher, Longhorn, has announced a 78 per cent after tax profit jump for the half year period ending December 2013 driven by upswing in exports.

Longhorn’s profit after tax rose to Sh30.2 million compared to Sh16.9 million recorded in a similar period in 2012.

“Growth resilience has been fuelled by bold ventures in the export market where we competitively won various government tenders to supply school books,” the firm said.

The export markets which pushed up its performance are Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

Turnover rose by 6.3 per cent in the half year period to Sh558.2 million compared to Sh525.3 in 2012. Longhorn’s school-to-school distribution in the export markets and advertising spend saw a sharp rise in operational and administrative costs, benefits which the firm says will be realised in medium to long-term.

Operational and administrative costs in the period jumped by 90.6 per cent to Sh103 million compared to Sh54 million recorded in the previous period.

The firm, however, said the introduction of 16 per cent VAT on books in September last year hit the business as the move prompted a cut in the amount of money allocated to reading materials by a similar percentage.

“This widened the textbook to child ratio and affected the volumes uptake for the high season stretching September to December 2013,” Longhorn noted.

Last year, the publisher acquired Malkiat Singh’s course and revision books titles as part of its portfolio diversification.